Roundup: Japan accepts U.S. offer of airborne support as search and rescue continues in quake-ravaged areas

Search and rescue missions are continuing Sunday in quake-stricken regions in Japan's southwest with military personnel and firefighters searching through the rubble of collapsed homes and buildings for signs of life.

The rescue operations have become more dangerous due to heavy wind and rain complicating the situation and increasing the likelihood of landslides and more buildings collapsing especially those that have already been damaged by the quakes.

As such Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday accepted an offer from the United States to provide airborne logistical and transportation support in the worst-hit areas.

At a press conference on Sunday Abe said that he is being updated constantly by rescue services and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and that they are continuing to work tirelessly on life-saving and rescue activities as there are still people unaccounted for.

"The victims spent a difficult night in shelters last night and we will make sure that enough food, medical care and water is made available," the Japanese premiere said, adding that the government intends to improve the living conditions of the evacuees while ensuring their stay in emergency accommodation is not prolonged.

Abe also thanked the United States for their offer of help, and later said that Japan would be accepting their offer of assistance in providing transportation support from U.S. troops to help evacuate more victims from Kumamoto.

Abe said that Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has received word from the United States side that it is ready to assist with providing airborne transportation services for areas ravaged by the quakes.

Along with support from the U.S., Abe said that Japan will broaden its rescue provisions to ensuring there are sanitary facilities, medical supplies, and safe accommodations for the evacuees, while enhancing overall coordination with the relevant municipalities.

Heavy landslides are also of major concern as the ground has become loosened by the quakes and the rainfall could lead to further landslides, some of which in and around Kumamoto Prefecture have already seen home and roads devoured by earth and mud.

The aftershocks since the main quakes have also been relentless, the weather agency said, and more are expected in the hours and days ahead.

In one of the hardest-hit villages of Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture, there are 2,000 search and rescue personnel still looking for those that have been unaccounted for, with village officials saying that eight have yet to be found, while the National Policy Agency has also said that five other people's location is also still unknown.

The small village was struck by a massive landslide which buried houses and caused the Aso Ohashi bridge, a major connection route, to collapse. Tunnels in the region also caved in due to a landslide, local officials said, further isolating the town.

But it was in the town of Mashiki where most people lost their lives, with the current death toll still standing at 41, according to prefectural officials. Of those who lost there lives 32 of them were attributed to the quakes the struck on Saturday and thereafter.

25,000 SDF personnel are now leading search and rescue operations and providing food, water and emergency care to the victims in the disaster-hit areas.

More than 7,000 people who had to evacuate their homes in one of the hardest-hit regions of Mashiki Town, in Kumamoto Prefecture, are facing further hardships as strong winds and heavy rains are increasingly making conditions treacherous, as the evacuees gear up for another night in evacuation shelters and emergency accommodation.

One of the evacuation centers to which the residents of Mashiki where directed to was packed beyond its limit last night with more than 600 people taking shelter there overnight in frigid and damp conditions.

NHK said that among the evacuees, many of whom were in their 60s, 3 elderly citizens were forced to spend the night under a plastic sheet on the street as the evacuation center was full. The three where in wheelchairs and the evacuation center said there was no space and it was difficult to care for them in such crowded conditions.

The weather agency has warned that the heavy rain and strong winds are expected throughout the night as well as further aftershocks. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said that further land and mudslides were also highly likely.

The weather is almost certain to hamper the ongoing search and rescue efforts of the SDF and other emergency rescue personnel in the quake-hit region, an official from the JMA was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Flights in and out of Kumamoto Airport have been suspended as has the Shinkansen bullet train service in the Kyushu area.

Major portions of arterial routes and expressways in the region have also been closed due to significant cracks in the road caused by the quakes or the roads crumbling. In some spots the quake liquified the roads and some roads are inaccessible due to severe landslides, the transportation ministry said.

Around 200,000 people in total had been evacuated to shelters, including 12,000 in neighboring Oita Prefecture, local governments said as of Sunday.

Thousands of people have been injured as a result of the quakes and aftershocks which have been centered in and around Kumamoto Prefecture, and both the government and the weather agency here said the adverse weather conditions are likely to compound an already disastrous situation, that has seen widespread devastation throughout the prefecture and beyond and expect injuries and fatalities to potentially increase.

More than 2,000 people have received treatment in hospital for injuries, public broadcaster NHK said Sunday following the quake, and around 1,700 houses were destroyed or partially damaged in the prefecture, including over 1,400 in the village of Nishihara, figures from prefectural officials show.

The M7.3 quake struck Kumamoto at a relatively shallow depth of about 12 kilometers at 1:25 a.m. on Saturday morning and registered upper 6 on Japan's seismic scale which peaks at 7 and was the same ferocity as the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake which leveled Japan's famous port city of Kobe.

The quake on Saturday is now believed to be the main quake, according to the JMA, with an earlier M6.5 quake hitting on Thursday night, which registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic scale in some areas, now believed to be one of the main quake's foreshocks.

Extensive damage has been cause by the multiple quakes in the region, with some 450,000 households left without power as the mercury dropped overnight and heavy wind and rain further added to the overall danger and misery in the area. In addition almost 400,000 homes do not have direct access to water.

Local utilities said Sunday they have deployed mobile power trucks to help make up for the electricity deficit in some of the hardest-hit areas as well as to ensure emergency facilities such as hospitals are provided for.

Japan's infrastructure minister Keiichi Ishii said that he will implement measures to ensure that enough temporary housing units are built in response to local government's request to more suitably accommodate the growing number of those displaced by the quake.

Taro Kono, the cabinet minister in charge of anti-disaster measures, in addition said that emergency food, baby formula and diapers, have been dispatched to those in need, to help municipal and local governments try to grapple with the 90,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes in Kumamoto alone, as a result of the quakes.

Many Japanese manufacturers in the region have been forced to halt operations at their factories in Kumamoto and neighboring areas and as of 2 p.m. Sunday, 436 foreshocks or aftershocks were registered as being able to be felt by humans since Thursday, including two measuring 7 and three on the upper six of Japan's seismic scale.

The JMA is urging continued vigilance against quakes in Kumamoto and neighboring areas in southwestern Japan and has stated that seismic activity is continuing.

Gen Aoki, the head of the JMA's earthquake and tsunami monitoring section, said Sunday that in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures he has seen no signs of the quakes abating, adding that more houses and other buildings could collapse, and landslides could be triggered by quakes and rain overnight.

Kumamoto is well-known for its farm produce and numerous cultural sites and assets, including the famous Kumamoto Castle, whose stone walls and turrets have collapsed due to the quakes. The region is a popular destination for overseas visitors to Japan for its cultural sites and numerous hot springs and accompanying resorts. Endit